Announcing Our Domestic Partnership

The day began in bed with coffee, talking, watching the day break, Mt. Tam, the hummingbirds, the light, the Bay, the bridge (and beyond that, the endless Pacific), the trees, our “bowl of light,” our loving. As always, we were there for a good while. For breakfast, Jean made buckwheat crepes with fruit and maple syrup.

We met David for a nice lunch at a typical Berkeley restaurant (diverse customers, good food, flowers). Then on to Marcia’s garden where we walked around the garden and then sat by the pond and signed Domestic Partnership papers. This is the garden, where two years ago on February 23rd Jean and I connected.

So, with joy, I announce that

Jean Cacicedo and I are domestic partners

One of our main considerations is that we want full access to one another if either of us is in a healthcare situation, as well as other legal considerations. We had exchanged vows about a year ago in a deep night – over the waterfall, for better and worse, in sickness and in health… now we’ll be recognized by California as domestic partners.

David’s presence was wonderful… his acceptance and love for Jean has been beautiful. We all know what we have and we all work to make it work – to be as beautiful as we can be… thank you David,

Jean, Charles B. I love you, Son. You keep on quietly going beyond. Text from DK: “It was an honor being there. Our little family grows as we grow.”

We had dinner at a new restaurant on San Pablo. I was thinking, it wouldn’t be easy to be more romantic than we are much of the time. It was a lovely anniversary dinner, interested up by our small sharing plates were cold, so Jean warmed them by sitting on them. This is, after all, Berkeley.

We entered into a legal partnership primarily for legal reasons, but that night into the next day (and beyond), the significance of what we’d done began to open up within us. A piece of paper doesn’t change hearts, still, it was a big step and I felt and continue to feel the tender commitment brought into focus.

The next day (Saturday) we had David and Charles for dinner. First course was champagne and crab, fresh, steamed, served with lemon. Then

grilled chicken with Indonesian marinade; salad with orange, avocado, mint, greens, oil and vinegar; asparagus with horseradish sauce; Acme levain; and for dessert, fresh blueberry galette and peppermint tea. California! I said grace, including an incomplete quote from the apostle Paul: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love… the greatest of these is love… love.” Conversation was wide-ranging – life, death, food, ethics, television, books,

travel, and not any talk of Trump. It is a beautiful thing that we all are so connected

with one another. Every day I am consciously grateful for this.